


Beyond The Seal

by Valentine20xx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:55:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valentine20xx/pseuds/Valentine20xx
Summary: It was a perfectly normal day... the day Naruto Uzumaki died. However, that's only the beginning of a tale of treachery and subterfuge that will raise doubt as to whatreallyhappened between Minato Namikaze and 'Tobi' over a decade before... and whether Naruto Uzumaki even existed to begin with...
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Beyond The Seal

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Naruto © Copyright Masashi Kishimoto/Shonen Jump, and is used without permission
> 
> Author’s Note: Something’s going on here. But not what you might think when you first read it. There’s more going on than you think. Well, The first chapter title will tell you everything you need to know, and everything you need to expect. Literally, Trust nothing, unless you see it with your own eyes... and even then, don't trust it...

Mizuki smirked. They’d approved his plan, despite the misgivings of some of the softer hearted members of the Committee For Civillian Affairs. So far, they’d relied on Naruto’s plummeting grades, helped by the fact Naruto hadn’t even attended several key classes, but diligently attended the exams for them. They had been working on replacing practically all the work Naruto had done with work by the same person, who was the closest they'd found to Naruto's own chicken scratchings.

Mizuki had offered to accelerate their plans, relying on the fact Naruto was a disruptive and borderline subversive element. Right now was the most important part. The exam that they’d planned was not scheduled, and any ninja worth anything would be able to tell they were fishing for something, which was intended to lead straight to Naruto. But that was the whole point of this plan. They could go all the way up to Sarutobi and he’d see nothing different to normal. Typical examination to root out someone who was cheating, complete with a question that couldn’t be answered. All fully above board and within the regulations the Hokage set himself.

They didn’t expect Naruto to finish the exam, having already completed it for him. Their copies of Naruto's work, which had been marked, graded and filed over the past two months, had exactly the same calligraphy errors, the same quirks and tells, every check, down the line, would find the same thing... Signs of Naruto having used information that he shouldn’t have had access to habitually and consistently. There would be no doubt possible, he had been subverted by outside agents...

It was a win-win situation for them, the plan being foolproof. There was no way Naruto could NOT be found to be cheating. And therefore, all they needed to do was ensure that Naruto was trapped by the question, then… He’d no longer be a problem. He’d already set up through a third party for Naruto to be attacked, after Sarutobi’s much-vaunted protection was taken away. He just had to wait, collect Naruto’s exam, ‘find’ signs of cheating, then switch them. After that, he’d be home free. The demon brat would be gone.

Shikamaru sighed as he looked over at Naruto. As usual, he was struggling with the exam. He likely hadn’t studied again. However, what alarmed him was that there seemed to be more proctors around than usual, which was odd. Plus this exam had only been announced when they entered class, which was even more irregular. When he got to the trap question, about a particularly esoteric and little used form of sealing array, the question logistically impossible, he knew. They were looking for something, and it was not likely good for Naruto.

He called over one of the proctors over, watched them look over his exam, then hand it back, telling him to skip that question. That confirmed it. They wanted people to call over the patrolling teachers and proctors, in order to examine the exam in detail while it was still being worked on. In this case, if a student knew things they didn’t, it usually rooted out infiltrators and subversive elements, since they likely gave them information they wanted in exchange for a door being unlocked or a guard being out of place.

Naruto had been put in a perfect situation to draw people like that, since he’d only attended roughly half the classes, so there was more than enough questions that he’d ask for help on. “Excuse me, but there seems to be something wrong with my paper...” Naruto called to Mizuki, Shikamaru frowning and watching. Mizuki had been floating almost, his patrol route intentionally moving in a small circle that kept him within earshot of Naruto, but looked like a typical observation patrol. He wanted to be the one Naruto called.

Mizuki opened the exam, Shikamaru’s eyes going wide. It wasn’t the same exam, the cover that was pointed his way was completely different. If he read the markings right, Naruto would never have completed that exam, and he likely never touched the set exam. The reason Mizuki wanted to be the one who did the question check was that he’d switched the exam, and the one that would be marked, while it would be the same trapped exam as everyone else did, It wouldn’t be the one Naruto had spent the past hour trying to fill out.

Mizuki put the exam under his arm, making a hand signal to the other proctors, who headed for the door, the correct cover visible from the side that was outwards, the way it likely was slipped into the pile, the side that no-one else but him and Mizuki had seen giving away that it wasn’t the same exam. Shikamaru even knew the hand signal - ‘Trap question sprung, Meet later’, which was why they'd cleared the room. As far as they knew, they'd found exactly what they'd come to find.

Shikamaru, still watching, saw Mizuki take one of the exams they were meant to be doing out of a scroll, add it to the stack of already finished papers, then destroy the one he’d been holding. Shikamaru knew what was going on. Mizuki had made quite the pantomime, and Naruto played the role of the villain so well. This was what was colloquially referred to by those people who knew Naruto as a fox hunt, a direct attempt to subvert the ninja system to make an attempt against Naruto.

Why they did ‘fox hunts’, as well as why they were _called_ fox hunts, all of that didn’t matter right now. He had to get to the Hokage as soon as possible, but he knew it would be too late due to how long he’d be required to spend in class after the exam. Regulations sometimes sucked. By the time he got out of here, the closing parts of Mizuki’s plan would be halfway done. Naruto’s time at the academy was likely already over. But, if he was fast enough, Naruto's ninja career wouldn't be.

Naruto entered the Hokage’s office, wondering why he’d been called in here instead of being allowed to finish his exam. However, what he saw unnerved him. The Hokage’s expression was grim, the exam papers that had already been finished next to him, a slim file the opposite side of him. “We were doing some checks, a slightly harder exam paper than usual, checking for people who had knowledge they shouldn’t, whose application of certain theories matched the wrong village’s habits...” Sarutobi stated, Naruto now understanding why the exam had been so damn hard, even more than usual, “Your answers, what you did of them, before you queried the exam, due to, more than likely, the trap question...”

Naruto knew what the trap question was. A question that was designed to allow a teacher to find a reason to look over the exam. Naruto had seen even Shikamaru call over a proctor, who handed him back his exam, after telling him to skip that question, while Mizuki simply seized the exam after looking at it. The Hokage however was only looking over the file, his expression grim. Clearly something was going on that was related to the need to use a trapped exam. And Naruto somehow knew they’d called him in because, fancy that, he’d set off the trap.

“You show no sign of practical knowledge of anything that you gave acceptable, sometimes even _non-academy standard_ , answers for, and gave an acceptable answer to the question set for trapping, while being tripped up on a normally standard question,” The Hokage stated, sighing, “As a result of this query, You have been expelled from the Academy, pending further review. You have also been dismissed from the Konoha Ninja Corps, effective immediately. There's far too much evidence...”

Naruto mentally scowled. He knew what was going on, but couldn’t do anything about it, especially with Mizuki there, and with how the latest piece of faked evidence was gathered. Any attempt to claim there was something doctored in the exam, the dozen proctors and anyone else would back up that Mizuki found the intended issue with the exam. The Hokage steeped his fingers, as he prepared what was likely a practised speech, having had to deal with this kind of thing a hundred times before.

“Sometimes cheating is acceptable, even encouraged, as an information gathering exercise, but, in this case, your teachers have found you disruptive and this was just the latest in a long line of reasons they offered for why you should not continue at the Academy. The fact that your coursework shows the kind of knowledge a foreign ninja would know, but a local one wouldn't... I’m sorry, Naruto, you may well never become a ninja...” Sarutobi finished, watching as Naruto walked out, sighing.

The evidence was iron-clad. Naruto was flagrantly cheating at the exams, putting doubt on any of his written work. Since he could not prove having any practical knowledge, and his working knowledge was poor, if not non-existent, but he had managed more than half of the exam before it was seized, and his work, from what had already been checked, was consistently excessively detailed and complete for his skill level, there was no doubt at all. Ichiraku wouldn't be happy. He was the only person Naruto was known to interact with.

Naruto Uzumaki’s file would be marked with a black tag, marking him as having been subverted, an unfortunate situation considering. They’d find out by who in the ensuing investigation. However, As Sarutobi was about to file the expulsion order, and lock Naruto’s file away, for Ibiki to go over with a fine tooth comb, Iruka and Shikamaru entered.

“Shikamaru approached me during the after-exam debriefing, allowing himself to be mind walked by a Yamanaka, due to something he observed during the most recent exam...” Iruka stated, “Mizuki had staged a cheating investigation as a ‘fox hunt’. Naruto didn’t even touch the exam that was given out, they already had his exam done for him, likely by a subverted ninja,”

“Do tell,” The Hokage asked Shikamaru, before looking towards Iruka, “I just was about to close up the investigation. From what had been found from a quick check, it was iron-clad… I can have some ANBU _meet_ with Mizuki, but only if you can prove how even the examination board found nothing abnormal...”

Iruka picked up part of the coursework, looking it over. "Just from the first couple of sheets, these are not Naruto's work, even though his name is present, and it has the right information," He stated, "I know his personal tells, even look over some of his work while in the class. Some of the same tells, but used in the wrong place..."

“Naruto was struggling with his exam, had barely answered anything as far as I could tell...” Shikamaru dictated, Sarutobi’s eyebrows raising. The exam he’d got was extensively answered, with many of what he thought were Naruto’s usual quirks. However, If this was right, some of his ‘usual quirks’, gathered from the last few months of exams, might well be incorrect tells, due to Mizuki faking a lot more of Naruto’s work than thought, to create a paper trail for ANBU to follow to an easy solution, subversion, which would be the _only_ legal way to remove the protections his father put on him.

“When he gave up and called Mizuki over, who had intentionally chosen to patrol the block of the room Naruto was in, Mizuki looked over the exam, which had completely the wrong design, dismissing him before taking another exam out of his case,” Shikamaru finished.

“Is this the test you saw?” Sarutobi asked, sliding the test he’d seen as Naruto’s exam, but, if Shikamaru was right, was not even close.

“Looks like the one he had with him…” Shikamaru stated, “The one which Naruto filled out had a red border with an orange background on the front page, and a fake back with the correct green border and yellow background,”

“Hmm…” Sarutobi declared, since that was a overly detailed description of a older Jonin-level competency test exam cover, “What do you mean, Iruka, by that it's not Naruto's work?"

"Ah, here's one I marked personally, and this _isn't_ what I marked. The person who filled this out would be challenging Sasuke for top ninja, their knowledge of some esoteric techniques, focus is on seals, something you'd expect from an Uzumaki, is stellar,” Iruka mused, checking a couple of pages, “Seems like they likely are from Mist or Rain. Over the first one I looked over? I’ll tell you right now, that is _fake_. He was kicked out of the class where that work was done for ‘disruptive behaviour by Hiroki,”

He then looked through the papers in Naruto’s file, “Actually, I can confirm… More than two thirds of this coursework was never even issued to Naruto… and the same person wrote all of these pieces of coursework,”

Iruka then told Shikamaru to look away, before he took out a scroll from a hidden pouch, unsealing it and taking out a sheaf of papers, the title matching the ‘coursework’ he'd highlighted, Sarutobi studying them. The information was completely different, with several comments about ‘That is not how that works!’ and similar, the filed coursework having a better grasp of the theory and less outlandish thoughts, and practically none of what he’d come to think of as Naruto’s tells, other coursework being handed over with similar outlandish theories.

“Naruto is notorious for the fact he ignores practically all the theory, but has time and again proven his personal theories right,” Iruka stated, pointing to a paragraph on one piece, concerning the ‘henge’ jutsu, where it had the boilerplate standard academy answer, “Definitely not Naruto’s work. He’s been doing henges, successfully, wrong for longer than I know, and has never, ever, done any coursework where he gives the expected answer about transformation jutsu, That is _not_ Naruto speaking there,”

“So, they fabricated their entire case, just to…” Sarutobi began, then went pale as a loud explosion came from the area of Naruto’s apartment. They got to where he lived to see Naruto, demonic chakra leaking heavily from his body, badly burned and clearly about to die. An attack that, according to village protocol, he’d have just sent some ANBU to investigate, and that would have been it. The protection detail had been dissolved the moment the cheating investigation turned against Naruto.

“ANBU, to me! This has gone far enough!” Sarutobi snapped, “I want everyone to meet at the graveyard…”

As he said this, an explosion, this one smaller, but with just as much impact, immolated Naruto’s body as the seal failed. Sarutobi whispered something to one of his ANBU, and they headed off. People had to be notified, even if it wasn’t this way that he’d planned to do it...

A short time later, Sarutobi had Mizuki sat, a pair of ANBU holding spears stood over him, in the position for ritual seppuku.

“Just a short time ago, Mizuki fabricated an elaborate scheme, using falsified coursework and prepared exams, in order to have Naruto be marked as a subversive element, which immediately removed some key protections he had,” Sarutobi began, “Naruto died in front of me, badly maimed by a bomb set by anti-Kyuubi terrorists within the village. Mizuki, you are given one chance to regain your honour. You will not leave this place...”

Mizuki chose the honourable way out, his corpse taken to be burned, rather than buried, as Sarutobi looked across at the shocked faces. “Now, I am sure that many of you belittled Naruto, since your parents asked you to, even told you not to ask why...” Sarutobi stated, “Naruto was this village’s Jinchuriki. A hidden guardian, bearer of the greatest of the tailed beasts, and would have, if people like Mizuki hadn’t dictated this village’s opinions, been our ace in the hole in future conflict...”

The people muttered about how they’d been encouraged to have him singled out and hunted, instead of how some villages were known to support their not-very-well hidden guardians. “He was excluded from classes at the Academy, belittled by his peers and treated like a leper, with the man who just left creating a picture of an intelligent, but disruptive, ninja, using the expected innate skill with seals of his clan's bloodline to fool the usual checks. If it hadn’t have been for me calling this meeting, and Mizuki’s mistake, what would you be thinking?” Sarutobi continued.

“Some of us, we’d be happy. The baka’s gone. We’d probably have a party, small one, since a few people would find it in bad taste and break it up...” Sakura sighed, a few heads hanging in shame as they admitted to themselves they would be at that party, “How do we know the Kyuubi even _was_ doing it maliciously over a decade ago? For all we know, it could have been under a genjutsu, they're one of the basic advanced skills classes, and didn’t even know the place it protected was the one it was destroying? We can’t exactly ask it now. Congratulations, Konoha. You got your revenge. Now who’s going to protect us?”

The people who were observing, not taking part in Sarutobi’s meeting, felt the barb of her last comment. Shopkeepers who insulted Naruto with jacked up prices and spoiled food, people who talked about him behind his back, who attacked him on his birthday… had got their revenge for their loved ones, but, if Sakura was right… It was against the wrong person. “Does anyone know who the Jinchuriki was before Naruto? When did they die?” Sakura called out, "Let's give a name to the person whose memory we shamed..."

“Kushina Uzumaki. She was attacked while giving birth to her son, because her seal was in a weakened state...” Sarutobi stated, “She did not survive. Sealed investigations suggested the same man who the Hokage intercepted that day was who summoned the Kyuubi to attack the village,”

A general feeling of remorse and dread hung over the area as it sunk in. The previous Jinchuriki was attacked, her bijuu released, and then it abruptly went on a rampage. The Kyuubi was never guilty. And they’d just killed it to satisfy their need to see someone be found guilty of the crime. "A new village emblem will be set up, removing a key element added recently..." Sarutobi concluded, "We dishonoured our closest allies, those of Uzu, when we murdered the bijuu they asked us to welcome with open arms..."

The following morning, the forehead protectors now bore an unadorned leaf shape. The spiral in the middle... had been removed, and possibly would never return...


End file.
